Parting away from Annika was so very difficult, after staying hours in each other's arms and the gentle touch of her fingers on his skin, everything was driving him crazy. But there he was, standing in front of her building, sending her off. Shivaay held her wrists in both his hands, staring down at her seren face, she was blushing, hard. And he had to chuckle at her this action, she was way more cute than she knew. Biting down at his bottom lip, he brought her closer. 

"Now, do I have to make myself clear that you blushing turns me -"

"Right, right. I will not blush" Annika tugged her hair strand behind her ear, rolling her eyes at him. How was supposed to not blush when he did things like this, his touch was enough to make her body to be on fire. Shivaay gazed at her and then at their hands, intertwining them together. Her hand perfectly fitting in his. Not in his wildest dream he had thought that a day will come when he was going to fall for anyone, so hard. 

Annika looked at her watch to find it was going to be almost midnight. "I need to go. I have to reach the office early tomorrow. And did you read the article?" Annika questioned, her eyebrows raising in the process. Shivaay nodded his head, it was the first thing he did today, he had read her article and he could say that she had done a great work. 

"You did so good, baby" Shivaay caressed her cheeks with his hands and brought her face closer to his. He gently touched his lips to her forehead and Annika's face turned red, his tender kiss on her skin made her eyes shut tightly. Shivaay pulled away, her hands were hanging around his shoulder, he gave her a wide smile, playing with her hair, curling a strand around his finger. 

"Do you have to really go? I don't want you to go" Shivaay sighed as he said, he honestly wanted her to stay for some more time, spend more time with her. Annika gave him a sad smile, she herself didn't want to part away from him. 

"I wish we would stay like this forever too, but we have to go" Annika kept her head down at his chest, hearing his heartbeat which felt like a lullaby to her ears, it was steady and calm. Annika wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling into his warmth. 

It felt like home, staying in his arms was never going to be tiring and the more she shifted in his chest, the more she yearned for. Shivaay chuckled, his fingers tangled in her hair, she smelled like strawberries and it evoked a passionate emotion in him, the need of her to stay close to him. Annika parted away, moving forward to give a soft kiss at his jaw, with a small smile playing on her lips. "This Cinderella needs to go before the clock strikes at twelve"

"But you will leave behind your glass slipper, won't you? Or else, how am I going to find you?"

"Well, you need not need to find me, I will always find my way to you" Annika grinned and Shivaay's heart fluttered hearing the words slip from her mouth. She looked gorgeous under the moonlight, her face was glowing, her hair was flying up and down in the air, her lips were parted and her intense gaze on him, he felt like he was in a slow motion movie. 

"Alright, bye" Annika slipped out of his arms and let her, it was painful but he let her go. Before she left him standing there alone, she turned around one last time and waved at him with a smile. He leaned back on his car, watching her retrieving figure, why was it always so difficult to see her move away from her? 

Shivaay turned around, opening the door to his car when his phone rang. He took out his phone to see it was his mother calling him. He groaned, he was absolutely in no mood to talk to her on call, he was heading home anyways, better talk face to face, so he cut her call. He could clearly imagine the fuming face of his mother as he cut her call for the fifth time as he drove in complete silence. 

The car smelled like her, and that made him groan, she was literally everywhere but she was not. After driving for some more minutes, he stopped the car when he reached the Oberoi Mansion. As he got down from his car, he was greeted by Khaana who looked sleepy. He nodded his head at him before saying "Go to sleep Khanna" And that he beamed with happiness. 

Shivaay knocked at the door lightly, if anyone would be awake at this moment, it would be Rudra but he did not expect his mother to be still awake when she opened the door. He palmed himself, way to go. Pinky had kept both her hands on her waist, glaring at her son who had been ignoring her call from several minutes. 

Shivaay tried to move inside but Pinky stopped him, standing in front of him and sending him glares. "No, you don't come inside this house, unless and until you tell me who you were with" Shivaay frowned, how did she even know she was with someone?

"I was at work, mom" Pinky raised her eyebrows, now he was going to lie to her? She moved ahead and grabbed his right ear and twisted it between her fingers and Shivaay winced in pain. "Mom, ouch. It's paining" He tried to free himself from her clutches but in vain. 

"This is what you get for lying to your mother" Pinky exclaimed, leaving his ear now. Shivaay was fast to touch his ear after she had freed him, rubbing it with a pout on his face. Pinky rolled her eyes, did he learn acting from her? He was such a dramebaaz. She motioned him to come inside with her finger and Shivaay followed her like an obedient little child who stole a chocolate and was getting punished. 

"Sit" Pinky commanded, pointing at the sofa and Shivaay sat down without speaking any other word, he did not want to bring out the angry side of Pinky. The house was in complete silence, no sign of his cousins which would save him from his mother's wrath. He sucked his breath in when he saw Pinky sitting down next to him, his heart beat rising. 

"So, is this your new girlfriend called Tia" Shivaay coughed out loudly at that, Tia kapoor? God, he was in a serious mess right now and seeing his mother glaring at him, he was even more scared of her. Pinky couldn't understand when all this took place, under her nose. She sure wanted her son to find a woman for him but him saying nothing about her, it made her believe that something was fishy. 

"It is Tia, isn't it?"

"No, mom. Tia is not my girlfriend. I only went to Lonavala to sign a deal with her. Nothing more" Shivaay explained, his fingers pressing on his forehead as he felt his head getting heavy. Pinky sighed, her mind wandering back to the article she read about him a day ago. Shivaay was about to open his mouth and speak when he was interrupted. 

"Pinky, talk to me" Pinky's and Shivaay's head snapped towards the voice which belonged to Shakti. His eyes closed and his legs kept walking, Pinky had totally forgotten that her husband sleep walked. Shivaay saw his father almost hitting the wall when he turned towards a different direction. 

"Mom, stop dad before he hurts himself" Pinky nodded and got up to catch Shakti who was now walking down the corridor. Shivaay sighed, at least now his mother wouldn't ask him questions until tomorrow. After two minutes, he saw Pinky leading Shakti back to the room while his eyes were still closed. 

"Wait here, I am coming back" Pinky commanded, Shivaay groaned at that. He wanted to get up and run and lock his room, he couldn't because that would be like calling upon a death wish. He did not even have his phone so that he could call Annika or engage himself at this moment. 

Waiting for several minutes for Pinky to arrive, Shivaay almost dozed off, his head thrown back at the headrest of the couch and his legs on the table. Shifting a bit in his sleep, he felt someone touch him and when he opened his eyes, he found Pinky staring down at him. "Go to your room and sleep, we will talk tomorrow" Shivaay sheepishly smiled at that, now he only had to come up with some vague reason as to why he was late today, problem solved. 

Shivaay got up, sprinting towards his room. When he was inside, he closed the door, opening his cupboard to take out a new phone. And then he took out the notebook in which he had written down all the numbers but supposedly forgotten to bring it today with him. Shivaay made a mental note that he was going to talk to Rudra tomorrow. 

He excitedly sat down on the bed with the new phone, numerous ideas running inside his head of how he was going to message Annika. After saving her number in his phone, he opened the chat box. 

Shivaay ; 12:37
Hello baby. 

After hitting the send button, he changed her name to 'baby', giggling to himself. Shivaay quickly got up and changed his clothes. Coming back, he laid down on his back with his phone in his hand, and he found a message from her. 

Annika ;  12:40
Excuse me, who is this? 

Shivaay ; 12:45 
You don't know me? :'(
I am your number one fan. I read your article and it was beautiful. Will  you go out on a date with me? 

Annika ; 12:46
I am sorry but I am taken (:

Shivaay ; 12:46
That's right, you are mine. 

Annika ; 12:48
Shivaay? 

Shivaay ; 12:48

Took you a whole minute to figure it out? Wow. We should chat more, we only chat for like five hours, that's not enough. 

Annika ; 12:49
And I think you should go to sleep. Good night ♡

Shivaay ; 12:49
But where is my goodnight kiss?

Annika; 12:50
Good night Shivaay, go to sleep. 

Shivaay ; 12:50
I will go to sleep and will dream about you kissing me. 

Shivaay saw his message was delivered but she hadn't seen it, maybe she really went to sleep. A yawn escaped his mouth as he stared at the screen, waiting for her to reply but she did not. 

Shivaay ; 12:52
Dream about me, Annika. That's an order. 

━━━━━━━━

Wouldn't say I did not enjoy writing this chapter, I did. 

Who was more cute in this chapter : Shivaay or Annika?